The pilot and three passengers were unhurt
CAMAS — Four people on board a single-engine Cessna had a bumpy landing Thursday afternoon at Grove Field in Camas.
The incident happened shortly after 1 p.m., according to East County Fire and Rescue Chief Michael Carnes.
The aircraft experienced some sort of malfunction, Carnes said, which prevented the pilot from stopping before it had run off the end of the airport’s single runway. The plan rolled off the end of the runway, plowed through two fences, and then came to a rest in a field nearby, which is owned by the Port of Camas-Washougal.
The pilot and three passengers were able to walk away unharmed.
Carnes says they were on scene in moments, since Station 91 sits directly next to the air field. Air traffic was briefly halted, but allowed to continue after a fire engine was moved from the runway.
Grove field is owned and operated by the Port of Camas-Washougal, and located three miles north of the city of Camas.
It has been a rough year for pilots who call Grove Field their home base. In January, Battle Ground pilot George Regis vanished after taking off from the strip. He and his aircraft were later found crashed on Mount Hood.
Last April a small kit plane crashed near La Center after taking off from Grove Field. Milo Kays, 73, of Camas, and Dennis Kozacek, 70, of Ridgefield were both killed. Both men had hangars at Grove Field.
Carnes says they’re happy that Thursday’s incident ended up being much less dramatic, and that no one was injured. The cause of the crash is being investigated by the FAA and the NTSB, according to a release from the Clark County Sheriff’s office.
